The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Work has begun on a BMX park near Alder Park in Flin Flon. Local contractors have donated their time to the City of Flin Flon to help level out the area for the park. City Councillor George Fontaine says just in the past week the project has really begun to take shape. The soon-to-be BMX park will be much like those seen on television and in the Olympics. Mounds of dirt will be strategically placed throughout the track for riders to do tricks, get air and train on. Though it's still in the early stages, Fontaine says he hopes to see the park up and running by the fall. But there is a lot of work to do before that can happen. "I think (the next step) is to bring in some fill and to continue to level and to watch and make sure our drainage is going to be appropriate," said Fontaine. Alder Park, which can be seen from the Perimetre Highway, has been discussed before as a potential bike park. "It had some natural damages to it, but one of the things is that we have some dirt around that we need to get rid of anyway," said Fontaine. "So, we thought we would use it." As of Thursday afternoon, the ground had some leveling work done through the generosity of a local contractor. "He had a few days free with his machine...and he offered to come here and clear and level it for us," said the councillor, noting that the work was free of charge. Though the park can be seen from the highway, Fontaine says the houses nearby will not be visually affected by the park. "It hasn't really affected the surroundings because the surrounding bush is staying there," he said. "We'd like to keep a buffer for the neighbours." The park will, upon completion, have fencing to keep quads and snow machines out off of the track. Looking onto what looks like semi-flat ground to the untrained eye, Fontaine pointed out where the bikers would start, race and be able to finish. "There is a staging area over here," he said, pointing towards the far end of Kingsway Blvd. "He's taken and, over the last three days, leveled out and buried all kinds of trees and things and made it so we can visualize the site." Over the summer, Fontaine says fill from other projects will be brought to the park to help bring down the cost of construction. "We've always got dirt and other stuff we have to get rid of. So, a lot of it is at no cost to us," he said. The planning stages of the BMX park came after city council presented their budget. "We're trying to keep (the cost) down and move away from the mega project kind of thing where we haul in a contractor and say, 'hey, here's $500,000, build us a park,'" said Fontaine. "We're going to try and do this in the most cost-effective method we can. We didn't budget anything yet, so we're going to have to do it in that fashion Ð at least at this point." Fontaine says with the donation of time and work, it will cut down on the cost for the city. "That adds up to dollars that should help to free up some grants," he said. A Popular Sport Avid bike riders can be seen all over town performing their tricks. Fontaine says this BMX park will be perfect for them. "I see a lot of 14- and 15-year-olds going down the street on one wheel and that sort of thing," he said, adding that he hopes to see a number of those people out once the park is complete. As an official Olympic sport, BMX biking is becoming increasingly popular. Flin Flon will have the second BMX park in the province later this year. Currently, a park is being built in Winnipeg. Fontaine says there are hopes among the province to have a number of parks built for the riders to do a circuit for competitions. "We could be a part of that," said Fontaine. With free time from the contractors and the space available, Fontaine says that this was the ideal time for the project. "We've spent time discussing it, but we felt this was an ideal time to take advantage of what we were given." he said. Work will continue on the BMX park with hopes of it being open for use later this year.
